Calm Before the Storm
by galaxyminded
Summary: When the Eclipse affects the twelve Celestial Spirits, Fairy Tail is up for the task to change everything back to normal. But during the battle against Virgo, Lucy gets sent to a place of the could have been, a world without magic... and she feels like she doesn't want to leave. Lucy's world is crumbling, but she starts forgetting. NaLu AU of modern AU ed/filler arc. Cover is mine
1. Lucy

Virgo was strong. Lucy had always known that. But never had she felt that more than now, lying on the hard, marble ground, every inch of her body sore.

She heard a mad crackling from above her. "Scream, Lucy Heartfilia, scream!"

Lucy grit her teeth and fought back tears. She had never thought of her celestial spirits as slaves, nor tools, or anything that was not under the category of friends; family, even. And yet, they chose a compromised freedom over her. Though she knew the Eclipse had altered them greatly, frustration still threatened to break her soul down. But she stood back up, her whip emitting gold, silver, and blue droplets of magic and the night sky. She was certainly a damsel, but she would not be in distress.

Virgo scowled. "I said scream!" She brought her whip down, and it took all of Lucy's strength to keep it from curling around her neck. The two whips tangled, and did not loosen, as though the whips were reminded that they were the other half of each other; twin whips. For a while they went back and forth, each whip hitting the ground or the wall, until finally, Virgo's whip curled around Lucy's ankles.

"We are stronger, we are mightier," she crackled, "and we will be free!"

Virgo flung Lucy across the room. She was too devastated to even scream, and so, she flew across the room silently. Everything seemed surreal, as thought it was all just a nightmare and she was now just lying in her pink sheets in her apartment after a hard day of work with Natsu and Happy. Though she hoped it was, she knew otherwise. Her twelve friends had to be stopped, but here she was, losing, Virgo's enraged and maniac eyes glared at her. Lucy couldn't help but think of a few weeks back, when those cobalt blue eyes were smiling…

Lucy felt her back collide with... glass? She sucked in her breath. No, she went right through it; something that froze her to the core of her body, but made her feel like she was wrapped up in a blanket by the fire place on a sunny day at the same time.

Lucy's vision blurred, the last thing she saw a sky of moving greens, and the sound of leaves rustling as the soft post-summer breeze blew.

But the last thing she _felt_ was a presence... that made her warm and excited on the inside.

_His._

She reached out, but too late. Her fingers grasped air, and then nothing.


	2. Natsu

A pretty girl lying unconscious on a park path isn't something that happens every day. So when Natsu stumbled across her, he decided to check if she was still alive.

First he nudged her with his shoe, lightly on her back. She didn't move.

Second, Natsu slapped her softly on her cheeks. No reaction.

Third, he smelled her for the scent of the dead. Nope.

So he brought her home.

The place Natsu called home wasn't much. It was located at a top of a small hill, and it seems as though it might break down any second. Not to mention inside. It looks as though a miniature tornado has passed through. Remnants of food were scattered here and there, dishes, bones, clothes, everything was left everywhere. Visitors would tell him, 'oh if only you had the magic of cleaning'.

Magic…

Natsu loved magic. His father, Igneel, used to teach him some neat, easy tricks, until he just left without a trace. He still admired it, sure, but it also brought back memories that were just now painful.

He was prevented from thinking more about it when he heard a loud crash from the corner as a tower of books (aka books Erza had told him to read but never has) tumbled. From the heap of fallen books, poked out a blue head. His cat, Happy, squiggled out of the mountain of paper and trotted over to where the girl lay. Happy looked curiously at her, observing her, and then suddenly started nudging her with his paw. Punch by punch, the cat's fist's power increased, until Natsu finally stopped him. The girl was sure to have a bruise there.

Still, the pretty girl did not wake.

Natsu tried everything. He got a frying pan and a large spoon and started banging it together, enhanced with his singing that sounded more like someone laughing while choking on their own saliva than that of something you hear in a choir. He decided to splatter ice cold water onto her face. Jump on the bed. Rock her back and forth.

Nothing.

He was starting to get really worried. What if she really was dead? His sense of smell has never failed him before though. Had he accidentally killed her during his attempt to do the opposite? Should he just wait a little bit more?

Natsu ruffled his pink hair in frustration. Perhaps he should call Erza! But no, if she notices those unread books he would be in trouble… as in have a close-to-death experience. There was no way he was going to ask for help to that stripping pervert, so who? Levy? Shadow Gear was out of town right now for a job…. Mirajane? Then again Natsu would just get scolded about how messy his house was. Wendy, he supposed, could. She always fixed his nausea when they traveled.

Natsu sat down with a sigh. By the time he got any of his friends here it would be dark, and he couldn't just leave her here alone with a blue cat for company. He glanced at the golden haired girl.

He froze.

A pair of teary, chocolate brown eyes stared back at him.


End file.
